Arnold (automobile)

The Arnold was one of the first motor cars manufactured in the United Kingdom. It was produced in East Peckham, Kent between 1896 and 1898.

Arnold-Benz, driven by Alfred Cornell, 1897.
The Arnold was based on the Benz Velo (pictured)

History

William Arnold & Sons of East Peckham, Kent, was an agricultural engineering company founded in about 1844.[1]

In 1895 they acquired a licence to build Benz cars. As the Arnold Motor Carriage Co. from 1896[2] to 1898.[3] the firm built twelve cars patterned after the Benz but fitted with their own engines.[4] Two Arnolds were exhibited at Crystal Palace in 1896.[3]

One Arnold from 1896 was fitted with one of the world's first self-starters, by electrical engineer Herbert John Dowsing. This was a dynamotor coupled to the flywheel, designed to assist the car on hills and well as starting the engine.[1]

Two Arnold cars survive.[5]

On 28 January 1896 Walter Arnold, of the Arnold (automobile) company of East Peckham, was summonsed for travelling at 8 mph (13 km/h) in a motorised vehicle, thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit for towns of 2 mph (3.2 km/h). He had been caught by a policeman who had given chase on a bicycle. He was fined 1 shilling plus costs, the first speeding fine in England, and thus became the first person to be convicted of speeding in the UK.[6][7][8]

See also

References
  1. G.N. Georgano, N. (2000). Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. London: HMSO. ISBN 1-57958-293-1.
  2. Rubashow, Tom (24 October 2008). "Shilling fine for 8 mph dash down high street". Kent and Sussex Courier (Paddock Wood edition). Courier Media Group Ltd.
  3. "Men who sparked the ignition". brooklands.org.uk. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  4. Lawrence, Margaret (1994). Bridge Over the Stream. East Peckham Parish Council. p. 14. ISBN 0-9524828-1-9.
  5. "Arnold". British Motor Manufacturers. Archived from the original on 16 June 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
  6. US History, Criminal Justice, The first speeding ticket. Archived 3 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  7. BBC Radio 4, The Eureka Years, by Adam Hart Davis
  8. National Motoring Museum – Motoring firsts

Other sources

"Arnold", in G.N. Georgano, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars 1885–1968 (New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1974).

  • Photo of one of the two surviving Arnold cars


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